


The Dark I Know Well

by pleasanthell



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-05
Updated: 2014-10-21
Packaged: 2018-02-20 00:19:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2408240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pleasanthell/pseuds/pleasanthell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They had been sequestered in their dorm room for almost eleven days. An alarm went off, different from the town hall meeting alarm but equally terrifying. Everyone was ordered to stay in their rooms because of a gas leak. However, when Carmilla stumbled into their room and closed the door, moving the armoire in front of it, Laura knew that it wasn’t really a gas leak.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

They had been sequestered in their dorm room for almost eleven days. An alarm went off, different from the town hall meeting alarm but equally terrifying. Everyone was ordered to stay in their rooms because of a gas leak. However, when Carmilla stumbled into their room and closed the door, moving the armoire in front of it, Laura knew that it wasn’t really a gas leak.

Carmilla explained that the gas leak was really a swarm of furies, sent to exact vengeance on the campus. She didn’t know what the vengeance was for, but Laura knew they were serious based on the long, thin scratches that crossed Carmilla’s back and arms.

Laura called her friends to make sure they were all okay. All of them made it to their rooms in time, but there were stories about people who hadn’t.

So almost eleven days later, Laura was sitting on her bed watching Carmilla. She had been crouched in the far corner of the room for a few hours, the only sound in the room the occasional unearthly roar of a roaming fury. Her forehead rested on her knees and one of her arms crossed the top of her head.

Laura finally stood up and started walking toward Carmilla, “Are you okay?”

Carmilla’s head shot up and she looked at Laura. She put her hand up, “Don’t come any closer.”

The younger woman stopped cold, “What?”

“Imagine not eating for ten days and having one of those grotesque snack cakes you love so much waved in front of you,” Carmilla put her head down again.

Laura looked over at the food supply they had. Somehow the Dean of Students figured out how to push food through the ventilation system into everyone’s dorms. However, no blood was being dropped from the ceiling along with the peanut butter and crackers.

The blonde bit her lip and looked over at the small figure in the corner, “We have to go get you some blood.”

Carmilla shook her head, “If we open the door, the furies get in.”

“You’ve already had five seizures,” Laura took a step back and sat on her bed, “Or what I think are seizures.” She tilted her head, “You survived the furies once. You can do it again.”

“I know I can,” Carmilla spoke without lifting her head, “But you won’t.”

Laura looked at the ground. Carmilla was starving to keep her safe. It was obvious that she wasn’t doing well. Her face had grown pale and hollow, her eyes sunken in.

“You can’t just…” it choked Laura up even thinking about it, “You can’t just starve to death in here.”

“I’ll figure something out,” Carmilla snapped and then lifted her head slowly. She saw the look of slight fear and deep concern coating Laura’s face. She sighed and added, “I’m sorry.”

Laura had a solution to the problem. After all as an average 18-year-old human, she was a blood making machine. Laura looked down, seeing her veins in her inner arms filled with the thick liquid that would save Carmilla.

“You can…” Laura breached the subject with all the force of a light summer breeze. She looked up at Carmilla who still had her head down, “You can take some of…my blood.”

Carmilla wasn’t quite sure if she heard what she thought she heard. She was pretty sure she may have been hallucinating on and off for the past few hours. “What?”

Laura slowly stood up and sat down in her computer chair. She slowly wheeled herself toward Carmilla, “Take my blood.”

Carmilla immediately shook her head. It was the first time that Laura had seen Carmilla look truly terrified before she quickly covered it up with a sarcastic disbelief. “Yeah right.” She seemed to push herself farther back against the wall.

“Why not?” Laura asked. She abandoned her chair and squatted down on the floor. She tried to get Carmilla to look at her. She tucked some hair behind her ear and ducked her head down, “Carmilla?”

Carmilla closed her eyes and rested her head back on the wall. Reading Vampiric Lore had become an secret source of amusement for Carmilla. She did it for fun, but there were some things that made her believe some authors actually had experiences with actual vampires. The one that always struck her was their descriptions of the hunger. Carmilla knew physical hunger as humans did. However, her thirst for blood was carnal. It was bored into her bones. It made her whole body shake and sweat. Carmilla had never gone this long without feeding before.

“I don’t trust myself,” Carmilla clenched her fists.

Laura knew what Carmilla was thinking. A few sips could turn into a complete drain. Laura continued to creep toward Carmilla. A fury roar sounded loudly just outside the door. It was sudden and deafening, sending Laura scrambling to Carmilla. Carmilla automatically opened her arms and moved Laura behind her so that she was between the door and the innocent girl.

The blonde cowered into Carmilla as the screeching continued right outside their door. Laura covered her ears, trying to get traction on the floor so she could push herself farther into Carmilla.

“It’s okay,” Carmilla stroked Laura’s hair and turned her head toward her. “They can’t get in.”

When the screeching stopped, Laura took her hands away from her ears. She heard the telltale sounds of IM window popping up on her computer. It was her friends no doubt making sure she was okay. She looked next to her at Carmilla who was still listening for any more sounds outside their door.

Laura looked at the poor shape Carmilla was in up close. The unfortunate incident with the ropes and garlic was a flowery preview of what was currently eating Carmilla from the inside out. It scared Laura more than the furies outside. When Carmilla finally looked at her, Laure surged forward, her lips crashing into Carmilla’s. Carmilla sighed helplessly into the kiss. It was something that she’d wanted for so long and under the circumstances, it was still as sweet as she’d imagined.

Scratching on the wall outside their room moved farther away as Laura pulled away from the kiss. She pressed her forehead to Carmilla’s, gently touching her face, “I trust you.”

When Carmilla started to shake her head again, trying to get away from her, Laura held the weakened woman in place and looked her dead in the eyes, “It’s your or the furies because I’m not going to let you die trying to save me.”

“You won’t survive the furies,” Carmilla tried to argue.

Laura licked her lips, “I’ll survive you.”


	2. Chapter 2

Carmilla knew that it was her only option. She had survived hundreds of years and she was planning on surviving a lot more. She gestured to the bed, “Lay down.”

“Really?” Laura was surprised. She stood up though, not wanting to give Carmilla time to change her mind. She scrambled to her bed and laid down on her back. She brushed her hair away from her neck and readied herself for whatever came next.

Carmilla took a moment to stand up. She looked at Laura, sweet smart Laura, laying on the bed and ready to be her lunch. She couldn’t live with herself if she accidently let the hunger take over and she killed Laura. Carmilla knocked one of the desk chairs over and kicked out one of the wooden spindles in the back of the chair. She looked at the jagged end and then at Laura.

“What are you doing?” Laura asked, starting to sit up.

Carmilla handed the spindle to Laura, “Just in case.”

Laura took it and looked it over. She laid it down next to her side until Carmilla told her to keep it in her hand. Then Carmilla wheeled Laura’s computer chair over to the bed next to Laura. She sat down and gently picked up Laura’s arm. “This is a one-time thing okay?”

“Unless you need it again,” Laura stated.

Carmilla smiled at Laura’s naivety, “No I mean for you.”

“People want to do this more than once?” Laura asked, in complete disbelieve.

“You’d be surprised.” Carmilla lightly ran her fingers up and down Lauran’s inner arm, tickling the skin. Laura giggled causing Carmilla to smile. Carmilla continued to stroke the skin that she knew she was going to have to break or she would die within hours.

“Are you going to…eat-drink, whatever from me arm?” Laura asked innocently.

Carmilla nodded slowly, continuing her tender petting of Laura’s arm, “The veins are smaller. More control.”

Laura just nodded, accepting that logical answer. She took a deep breath and tried to relax herself. She started thinking of other factors in a bloodletting experience, like oxygenation and if it would taste different if someone were anemic. Carmilla could see that Laura was thinking too much about serious things and knew that that had to change.

“Tell me about your favorite vacation,” Carmilla closed her eyes and inhaled through her nose. She was trying not to dive into this too quickly and let the monster inside of her finish off Laura.

Laura made a confused, surprised face before resting her hand that was holding the improvised stake on her stomach. “Are you trying to make me humanize myself so that you won’t devour me?”

“I’ve lived with you for months,” Carmilla quipped, “I know you’re a human with all your fun little quirks. This is for you.”

“Um, I think my favorite vacation was when my dad took me camping in the Poconos,” Laura just decided to go with it. After all Carmilla did have hundreds of years of experience on her and she was the expert. “We went hiking and fishing. It was beautiful.”

Carmilla slowly ducked her head and smelled Laura’s wrist. She was testing herself. If she could resist just diving in, she could handle only taking what she needed not to die. “Dear old dad let you outside for vacation?”

“We stayed in a cabin with an alarm system, had mosquito nets over the beds, and wore sun hats all day, but…yeah,” Laura smiled softly, “It was nice. It was quiet and peaceful. The stars were amazing. There were so many.”

Carmilla looked over Laura’s smile with a fondness that usually wasn’t present on her face toward anyone. She had grown to love the girl on the bed, offering herself to Carmilla so that she could live at the risk of her own life. All because she trusted Carmilla for whatever reason. Carmilla looked toward the door. She thought about leaving Laura where she lay and running out the door as quickly as she could. If she got the drop on the furies, then maybe she could get the door closed before they got in and consumed Laura. However, she most likely wouldn’t survive due to her lack of any strength. And there was always the distinct possibility that tiny, lion-hearted, occasionally stupid Laura would run after her.

Tasting Laura was the lesser of the two sinister evils.

Laura was still talking about the cabin they stayed in when she felt the first bite into her skin. She found her kneejerk reaction to rip her arm away from Carmilla. She could feel the blood leaving her body. It felt cold running out of her body through the punctures in her arm. Then all of a sudden, it felt warm. A fantastic, ethereal feeling pushed its way into her body.

The feeling built up in her body, lying on top of her, and pushing against her slowly and steadily. It felt like she was floating with all the pressure of being deep underwater. The magical sensation she was feeling started to consume her until it spilled a white hot heat all over her. Every muscle in her body tensed up at once before completely letting go. Laura lay on the bed, absolutely relaxed, breathing heavily, and in completely disorientation.

Finally when she caught her breath and found the ability to move, she looked toward Carmilla. Carmilla was very carefully wrapping a bandage around her wrist. Carmilla looked a lot better than she did before. She didn’t seem to be completely healthy, but Laura was no longer fearing for Carmilla’s life on a minute to minutes basis.

“That was…” Laura couldn’t really put it into words.

Carmilla smiled gently, “That was why most people want to do it again.”

Laura sat up too quickly and found herself a little dizzy. She leaned back on the wall next to the bed and looked at Carmilla who was carefully watching her. Carmilla wheeled the computer chair toward the desk and picked up the cookies, bringing them back to Laura.

Laura took one and had a small nibble. “Stoker was right. The whole experience is…”

“Sexual,” Carmilla nodded. “But don't believe everything you read. Stoker was also enamored with a young vampire who liked to call himself Dracula because he thought it sounded cool. His real name was Angus. Then Angus broke it off. The book Dracula was written in like a day while Stoker was drunk and crying, while listening to Franz Liszt.”

Laura nodded. She listened to what Carmilla was talking about, but she was still floating on a small cloud that Carmilla had sent her rocketing up to. She took a bite of her cookie and looked down at her arm. She didn’t seem to be bleeding out of the bandage which was good. She wondered what it was going to look like or how she was going to explain the bandages.

Then a panicked though crossed her mind, “Am I going to turn into a vampire?” She quickly grabbed a mirror out of the nightstand drawer and looked at herself, “Oh my god, I’m getting pale already.”

“You always look like that, cupcake,” Carmilla had moved across the room to get a peek out the window.

Laura looked closer, “Oh yeah.”


	3. Chapter 3

Camilla leaned on the wall next to the window. She didn’t feel back one hundred percent, but she didn’t feel like she was dying anymore. That was a step up. She rubbed her eyes. She was trying to figure out her next move. She couldn’t keep sitting on her hands and feeding on Laura.

“How long have we been in here?” Carmilla asked.

Laura sat down at her computer to explain to her friends that she was okay, “Eleven days.”

Carmilla sighed, “They should have already left.”

“Why are they here?” Laura asked, after sending quick replies in all the IM windows. She swiveled around in her chair to look at the brooding vampire in the corner.

Carmilla shrugged. She crossed her arms and moved away from the window, “It doesn't matter.” Carmilla looked at the ground, “Who lives next door?”

“Janitorial closet to the right,” Laura looked Carmilla over, “Those two computer science majors that I’m sure only leave their room for class.”

Carmilla moved to the armoire and opened it. She grabbed a leather jacket. Then she pulled open a secret compartment in the door of the armoire and extracted a sword.

“You have a sword?” Laura asked, “How did you get that into there without me knowing.”

“Well you used to go to class,” Carmilla snarked back as she hooked the sword onto her belt.

Laura crossed her arms, “What are you doing?”

“I’m ending this,” Carmilla moved to her bed. She pulled out a large duffle bag and opened it, revealing a small cache of weapons and books.

“You can’t go out there by yourself,” Laura protested. She moved between Carmilla and the door, “That’s crazy. You barely made it back the first time.”

“But this time I have a plan,” Carmilla tucked something Laura couldn't see into her pocket. “And a sword.”

“What’s the plan?” Laura was trying to think of any way to get Carmilla to stay in their room where it was safe. “And what about me? You’re just going to leave me here unprotected? Let the furies in to get me?”

“I am going to drop you off with your friends,” Carmilla picked up a beautiful dagger by the handle. She tossed it up into the air, catching it by the blade and offered it to Laura, “Try not to stab me in the back.”

“I don’t – I can’t…this is a really big knife,” Laura took the blade delicately by the handle.

Carmilla walked over to the wall and knocked on it, “Get ready to meet the neighbors.” Carmilla used her fist to slam though the wall. She grabbed onto part of the wall on the other side and pulled it toward her, covering Laura’s bed in debris.

“It’s okay,” Laura called to the shrieking girls, “It’s just...us.”

Carmilla kicked the wall and finished making a hole big enough for her to step through. She walked through the dorm and didn’t look at the two cowering girls cowering in their bathroom. “Mind if we play through?” She didn’t wait for an answer. She easily moved one of the beds and punched through the opposite wall.

After Laura pulled on some boots, she ran followed. “Sorry,” Laura crawled through the first hole. She saw the girls, “I’m really sorry. She’s just…” Laura saw Carmilla was already invading another dorm and followed, “I’m sorry.”

Laura scampered off after Carmilla through the second hole. There was no one in the dorm next to the computer science girls which gave Laura a sick feeling in her stomach. Carmilla used a vacant bed to place in front of the door so that furies couldn’t get in to the empty dorm room.

“Whose room is this?” Carmilla pointed to the wall.

Laura went over a floor layout in her head and answered, “That’s Perry’s room.”

Carmilla licked her lips and pointed to the room they left behind, “Go back in there.”

“Why?” Laura asked.

“Just do it,” Carmilla barked.

Laura stood up to Carmilla, “Not if you’re going to hurt my friends.”

“I’m not going to hurt them,” Carmilla raised her voice, “I just don’t want you to see them if something…” Her voice lowered, “If something happened to them.”

Laura blinked. The realization hit her and she took a step back across the splintered wood and drywall behind her. Laura moved back through the second hold Carmilla created and stood watching carefully.

Carmilla punched a hole straight through the wall and peeked through.

“She’s come to get us!” Perry yelled.

“Get behind me,” LaFontaine ordered.

Carmilla rolled her eyes and looked back at Laura, “They’re fine.” Carmilla punched another hole through the wall and pulled out a large chunk of wall.

“Stay back,” LaFontaine threatened Carmilla with a broken field hockey stick.

“It’s okay,” Laura rushed to protect Carmilla as she kicked the drywall by her feet creating a small doorway. Laura stepped in front of Carmilla, “It’s okay.”

“I thought for sure you’d have been lunch by now,” LaFontaine said as she and Perry both moved to hug Laura.

A large scraping noise started echoing in the small space behind them. Laura immediately turned around scared that the furies had gotten in. However she found that hole that Carmilla had just been covered up by a large armoire. There was another bump as something else was placed behind it.

Laura ran to the armoire and tried to push it away, “Carmilla! What are you doing?!”

“You’ll be safe in there,” was Carmilla’s only answer.

“Wait!” Laura started banging on the armoire, “You can’t go out there by yourself! You’re going to get hurt!”

There was no answer. The only thing she heard was more scraping. She heard Carmilla tell the other girls to put as much of their furniture against the hole in their wall as they could. After a few second of frantic moving, it was quiet again.

Laura heard Carmilla walk toward the hallway. She tried one last plea, “Carmilla! Please don’t do this. We can figure out how to stop them together.”

The footsteps paused. Laura pressed her forehead to the back of the armoire willing Carmilla to remove it so they could figure it out together.

But her hopes were dashed when she heard the creak of the dorm room door open and the howl of the furies as they grew closer.


	4. Chapter 4

“Carmilla!” Laura banged on the armoire. “Come back!”

LaFontaine and Perry moved to Laura, pulling her away. “Hey,” Perry gently coaxed Laura away, “You’re going to call the furies to us.”

“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” LaFontaine assured Laura who was limply allowing herself to be pulled to the bed, “She’s already dead right?”

Laura didn’t find that funny or assuring. It just upset her. She looked around, “Can I have a phone?”

Perry handed Laura her phone, “Who are you going to call?”

“I’m gonna call Danny,” Laura dialed and then put the phone to her ear, “We need to figure out how to help Carmilla.” She looked up at Laura, “She barely made it out alive the first time. This time, she’s only eaten once in eleven days.”

“How did she -” LaFontaine asked, but noticed the bandage on Laura’s wrist before she could finish her question. Her eyes moved to Laura’s face as the blonde put the phone on speaker.

“I’m fine,” Laura waved her off, “She was going to die if she didn’t.”

“Hey,” Danny answered, “Have you heard from Laura?”

“I’m here,” Laura told her, “I’m with Perry and LaFontaine.”

“Where’s Carmilla?” Danny asked, standing up and moving away from the campfire that had been created in the middle of the Summer Society rec room. She walked past the tents and toward the barricaded doors.

Laura looked toward the door. She could hear the furies flying past her door, their demonic roar echoing through the hallway, “She went to get rid of the furies. I’m worried about her. We have to figure out how to help her.”

“How are we going to help her?” Danny asked, “No one can leave any of the campus buildings without being ripped to shreds. Laura…” Danny sighed softly, “I don’t know if you’ve looked outside, but…it’s gruesome.”

Laura licked her lips. She worried that Carmilla has already become part of the gruesome scenery. Tears filled her eyes and she closed them, trying to will the tears away. Crying wouldn’t help Carmilla. “I have to try.” She looked at the knife in her hand and readjusted her grip on it.

There was a crash of glass breaking outside the door. It had to be the windows across the hallway from Perry’s room. Laura abandoned the phone on the bed and ran to the door.

“Laura stop!” LaFontaine called, but it was too late. She was already out the door, closing it behind herself.

The hallway seemed empty. When Laura looked at the walls, she saw deep scratches like the one that covered Carmilla when she first stumbled into their dorm room. She moved to the broken out window. That is where she found Carmilla.

Carmilla was valiantly fighting the flying specters with her sword. They were dark almost like shadows flying through the air without attachment. When Carmilla cut one down it flashed and then disappeared.

There were so many swirling around Carmilla. She saw them dive-bombing Carmilla and swirling behind her trying to get at her without being slayed by her sword.

Laura knew she had to help. They were hitting Carmilla and there were just so many. She looked around and ran down the hallway.

Carmilla jumped high in the air when she saw a fury coming at her from behind. She flipped backward and landed behind it, stabbing it in the back. However that left her sword momentarily still so a fury ran straight into her side, scratching up her back and throwing her twenty meters away.

The furies were moving in on Carmilla. She flexed her hand and found that her sword had been lost after she hit the ground. She spotted it and scrambled toward it, knowing that the furies were going to converge on her within second.

“Hey!”

The yell seemed to freeze everything as all the furies and Carmilla looked to where it was coming from. Behind the furies, Laura lit a rolled up newspaper on fire and then tossed it into a trash can. She kicked the can at the approaching furies and then picked up a large canister. She ran toward the fiery barrel dumping the content of the canister as she ran, leaving a white powder trail behind her. She squeaked when the furies got close. She tossed the rest of the canister into the flaming trashcan, then took off in a sprint for Carmilla who had had enough time to retrieve her sword.

Laura waved her knife around wildly, accidentally stabbing a fury as she ran. Just as she got close to Carmilla, the trash can exploded in a fiery ball, incinerating a few furies and pushing Laura into Carmilla’s arms. The white powder trail caught fire catching a few more furies.

“What are you doing?” Carmilla looked her over to make sure she was okay. She couldn’t help, but smile, “You insane tiny little arsonist.” She pulled Laura behind herself as more furies came flying in from toward the library.

In the opposite direction, a mob of students carrying torches made out of wooden oars and brandishing pickaxes and machetes marched toward them. The tank tops and painted faces of the Summer Society stood close together as the furies started to swarm together over Carmilla and Laura.

“I’m going to lure them away,” Carmilla told Laura, keeping her eyes on the furies overhead, “And you’re going to run.”

“What about you?” Laura asked, ducking down behind Carmilla with her hands on Carmilla’s waist. She could see that Carmilla’s leather jacket was mostly shreds, barely hanging onto Carmilla. She could a tiny stream of blood dripping down from a cut just under Carmilla’s eye.

Carmilla’s free hand caressed the back of Laura’s head as she swatted a fury away with her sword, “I’m already dead.” She gave Laura a smile. It was a tender, adoring smile. Then she jumped up and out of Laura’s arm, into a black cloud of furies.

Laura took off running toward the Summer Society. She watched Danny swat a fury away with a hockey blocker on her arm and stab another one with a javelin. Laura ran straight into the marching mob, hiding behind Danny. “What are you doing here?” Laura yelled over the excited whoops and cries of the Summer Society.

“LaFontaine said that you ran off,” Danny yelled back. “We have to come help. We’re tired of hiding.”

Laura nodded. Her eyes moved to Carmilla who was battling most of the furies on her own. Danny reached into a backpack of one of the other members and pulled out a football helmet, placing it on Laura’s head, “We’ll get you back inside.”

“We have to help Carmilla,” Laura adjusted the helmet to look Danny in the eyes as the battle raged on around them.

Danny swallowed. She could see Laura’s desperation. She slowly nodded, “Yeah. Okay. We’ll help her.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Artemis formation!” Danny called over the crowd. The pointy and stick-like objects were thrust forward while anything shield shaped was put over their collective heads. They all moved forward as a kind of pointy Trojan turtle.

As an epic fight raged in front of them, they slowly and safely proceeded forward. When they got close enough, Laura called for Carmilla. The vampire ducked into the fortress of outward pointing garbage lids, martial arts kicking shields, and longboards.

“What’s the plan?” Laura asked Carmilla who was looking over a particularly large wound on her abdomen.

Carmilla looked at Laura like she was crazy, “This is my plan.”

“Run around killing as many as you can is your plan?” Danny asked in disbelief.

“What’s your plan?” Carmilla snarked at Danny.

“Are you okay?” Laura immediately saw the blood coming from the vampire’s stomach.

Carmilla put her hand over it and nodded, “I’m fine.” She looked around, “Is there some kind of gym or something we can corral them into?”

“How long have you been going to this school and you don’t know where the gym is?” Danny asked, tilting her head to the side.

“You’re not helping, Lancelot,” Carmilla narrowed her eyes at Danny.

Laura put one hand on both of the women to stop them, “So we lure them to the indoor basketball court,” she looked at Carmilla, “Then what?”

“Just kill them I guess,” Carmilla shrugged, “They’re not leaving until they’re dead or they get the vengeance they came for. They’re obviously not getting their vengeance.”

“Alright,” Danny called to the Summer Society, “We’re going to march to the gym. Stay in a tight formation.”

Carmilla reluctantly joined the formation and walked under a tackling dummy that was shielding her head. They made it to the gym without any casualties or injuries. The furies followed, a dark angry cloud swirling and spinning overhead.

The furies swarmed through the doors and made their way to the high ceilings, the black wisps trying to find a way to get at the Summer Society.

“Let’s all make a break for the locker room,” Danny suggested, turning to Carmilla, “It might freak them out with all the running and chaos. We’ll be safe in there with the doors closed and you can do your thing.”

For once Carmilla agreed with Danny. She _accidentally_ bumped into Laura, pushing her toward Danny knowing that if anyone would keep her safe it would be the tall redhead.

Danny looked over her shoulder at Carmilla who gave her a solid nod. Danny called for the rush and everyone took off in a sprint.

Carmilla leapt into the air, easily taking out three furies as they were stunned by the mad rush and all the yelling. More of the furies tried to get at the Summer Society, but their shields were effective in keeping the furies away.

However as they were running, tiny, questionably athletic Laura tripped on someone else’s feet and fell to the ground. “Laura!” Danny called as she was being forced into the locker room by the crowd pouring in.

“Carmilla!” Laura called knowing that she really only had one hope again the approaching furies.

Carmilla looked over at Laura as she kicked away a fury. A team of furies were bearing down on Laura and she couldn’t just stand there. Carmilla used her supernatural speed to get to Laura just before the furies did. She didn’t stop running when Laura was in her arms. Instead she crashed through the maintenance closet doors, letting Laura go to fly into a stack of tumbling pad, and then kicked them closed, sliding a broom handle through the handles.

It was pitch dark with the door closed. Laura scrambled up and felt around for a light switch. It took her a minute to find one and flip it on. A single lightbulb illuminated the room. “I’m sorry,” Laura earnestly told Carmilla, “I just got caught up and I couldn’t make it. I ruined the plan.”

Carmilla leaned back on the door and panted, “It’s fine.”

 Laura sat up straight and then stood, “Are you okay?”

Carmilla slid down toward the floor, leaving a bloody streak on the door. “I’m fine.”

Laura rushed to Carmilla and put her hands on Carmilla’s shoulders so that she could examine her. She gently moved Carmilla forward so that she could see her back. It was scratched up and down by the talon like claws of the furies. Laura felt like she couldn’t breathe. The wounds were deep and gaping. It happened because she needed Carmilla to save her. Carmilla was protecting her all over again.

“Carm?” Laura asked, feeling Carmilla tense up. When she looked at Carmilla’s face she found her more pale than usual.

“I’m fine,” Carmilla insisted, but Laura knew it was a complete lie.

“Here,” Laura helped Carmilla move to the tumbling pads. Then she moved her hair to one side and rubbed her neck, “Take all that you need.”

“I can’t -”

“Do it,” Laura ordered. It was harsher than Carmilla had ever heard from the tiny blonde, but she wasn’t really in a state to argue.

Laura whimpered when Carmilla’s teeth sank into her neck. If she thought the first bite was magical, getting the full experience was like an acid trip. Her hands dove into Carmilla’s hair and she squirmed almost uncontrollably. Her whole body went cold before slowly heating up from the center of her body out. A moan escaped her mouth on a breath and she pushed her body harder into Carmilla’s.

A wave of pleasure rolled through her body like a hurricane as Carmilla stopped her drain. Carmilla licked the site on Laura’s neck where she had bit her and kissed it tenderly. She nuzzled into Laura with her eyes closed. Laura extracted her hands from Carmilla’s hair and ran then down Carmilla’s back.

“I’m sorry,” Carmilla whispered.

Laura shook her head with a smile, “You never have to say sorry for that.”

Carmilla pushed up off of Laura and tried to be aloof again, “Don’t get used to that.”

She walked toward the door to peek out and Laura saw that Carmilla’s skin was healed completely on her back, the only evidence of her injury being how shredded the back of her jacket was.

“Okay,” Carmilla took off her jacket and tossed it at Laura, “I’m going to go out there. You have to close the door and lock it behind you.”

“No,” Laura stood up, pushing the jacket aside, “You can’t go out there by yourself.”

“Who else is going to go with me?” Carmilla snapped back. She peeked out of the crack in the door, “I’m going to go finish this.”

Laura looked down and swallowed. She saw Carmilla’s sword discarded on the ground. Laura slowly bent down to pick it up. She offered it to Carmilla, “Please come back.”

Carmilla was uncomfortable with how those words affected her. She gently took the sword and turned it away from Laura. Carmilla rolled her shoulders and nodded, “I’ll be back.”

Laura took a tentative step toward Carmilla and softly touched her face. Carmilla’s eyes slid closed when Laura pressed her lips to the vampire’s. Carmilla tried to keep from falling down the cliff that Laura was hell-bent on dragging her down. The cliff of solitary indifference that Carmilla had been standing on for centuries trying to keep from falling into any kind of attachment or emotion.

Laura slowly pulled away knowing that when she did Carmilla would leave. She was trying to delay it for as long as possible, but knew that getting it over with was probably best.

Carmilla took the broom out of the handle of one of the doors and waited for Laura to take it. When she was sure Laura would be able to slide it back into place, Carmilla gave Laura what she hoped was a reassuring smile before slipping out of the door.

Laura sniffled as she pushed the broom back through the handle as the group of furies screeched and howled, locking Carmilla out. She peered out through the crack in the door with tears in her eyes hoping that Carmilla would be okay.


End file.
